


Abu el Banat

by Netgirl_y2k



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin
Genre: Character Study, F/M, Family, Fatherhood, Gen, Pre-Canon, Siblings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-14
Updated: 2014-11-14
Packaged: 2018-02-25 08:51:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,702
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2615774
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Netgirl_y2k/pseuds/Netgirl_y2k
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Oberyn Martell, father of daughters.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Abu el Banat

_i._

Nymeria was the first of Oberyn's daughters to come to him.

In the first impulsive act of his brother's life, Doran had taken a bride in Norvos, and he and his new wife were touring the free cities before returning to Dorne.

Doran wrote from Volantis where a noblewoman of that city had approached him. She was soon to be married, and her husband-to-be would not accept her bastard daughter into his household; she wished to send the girl to Sunspear, to her father. 

As it happened, Oberyn well remembered the woman and the weeks that he had spent abed with her and her twin brother while on unofficial exile in Essos, but he was surprised that his careful, cautious brother was willing to take her at her word.

Oberyn only understood when he reached the end of his brother's letter. _The child has your eyes,_ wrote Doran.

*

Nymeria did have Oberyn's eyes; viper's eyes, said friend and foe alike. She was not quite three, with olive skin and silky black hair. She missed her mother and the only home she had ever known; she cried herself to sleep at night.

Oberyn climbed the hundreds of steps to the top of the Spear Tower every evening, he descended, and climbed them again until Nymeria fell asleep against his chest with her thumb in her mouth.

If the people of Sunspear thought it odd to see the Red Viper walking the halls at all hours with a toddler in his arms they were wise enough not to say so. 

*

Oberyn was performing a handstand in the nursery when Elia returned from the Water Gardens. He was hoping to make Nymeria laugh, and after that, sleep.

As a boy he had taught himself to do handstands, cartwheels, and back flips to cheer Elia's spirits when illness had confined her to bed. Sometimes it had worked, and sometimes Oberyn's boundless energy had only seemed to frustrate her, and he had forced himself to remain still. Any sense of strategy and patience Oberyn had developed he credited to those long hours sitting by Elia's bedside reading to her from books of strategy and history and losing to her at cyvasse. 

Elia applauded, and Oberyn somehow managed to turn his fall into a graceful landing and then a bow. "Welcome home."

"I see the rumours are true," said Elia. "Half of Dorne is talking about your daughter."

Oberyn could see the pout creeping onto Nymeria's face; he had learned enough of his daughter's moods to know that she was wondering why her father was no longer performing tricks for her amusement.

"Princess Elia Martell, might I present my natural daughter, Nymeria Sand." Oberyn scooped Nymeria into his arms. "Nymeria, this is your Aunt Elia."

Elia took the child's fingers, and made a point of bowing over her hand. "Lady Nym," she said with the utmost solemnity, "it's an honour." 

Nym giggled, and Elia took her from Oberyn. She sat down on a low couch and settled her niece on her lap. "Shall we have the rest of tonight's entertainment?"

Oberyn laughed, and launched into a one-handed handstand for the pleasure of his two favourite ladies. 

*

"How's mother?" Oberyn asked when Nym had finally fallen asleep with her head on Elia's lap.

The princess of Dorne had long been in poor health, mostly hidden by an iron will and milk of the poppy, and it was only in this last year that she had given up public life at Sunspear and retired to the Water Gardens. Elia had just returned from visiting with her.

"You should take Nym to see her..." began Elia. "She has much and more to say about Doran's marriage; she's been receiving visits from Queen Rhaella's envoys, I think the queen herself came once... she's still mother. But you should take Nym to meet her, because I fear she won't live to see Doran's firstborn."

*

Oberyn had made the journey from Sunspear to the Water Gardens many times; it took twice as long when accompanied by a three year old. It was a troubling sign that his mother did not berate him for his later than expected arrival.

The princess of Dorne looked older than her years, with white hair and skin the yellow of parchment. She had ruled well, and provided three heirs for Dorne; but each of her children, those that lived and those that died, had cost her dear. She was sitting up in a heavily padded chair with her granddaughter on her lap. Nym was perfectly content; she was a child who enjoyed being petted and fussed over. 

"Nymeria is a good Dornish name," said the princess.

"We've been calling her Nym," said Oberyn, "Elia coined it. She also said that you've been receiving Targaryen envoys."

The princess of Dorne snorted. "Don't start, my boy." 

Oberyn's opinions on the proposed marriage alliance between the Martells and Targaryens were well known to all those who lived at Sunspear and were blessed with the gift of hearing. 

"I am an old woman. If you wish to argue then take it up with your brother or sister, but as you last won an argument with Elia when you were six, I don't like your chances."

Oberyn threw himself back in his chair; he would not lose his temper in front of his daughter, and his rages had never moved his mother.

The princess pressed a kiss to the top of Nym's head. "You are a fortunate man. Had Nym's mother thought less of you, or known less of Dorne and our ways, then you might never have known your daughter."

 

_ii._

His mother's words haunted Oberyn all through her funeral and the days of mourning that followed. Rather than competing in the tourney to celebrate Doran's elevation to ruling prince of Dorne, Oberyn rode for Oldtown.

*

The girl's name was Obara, and she too had viper's eyes.

It was the name that moved Oberyn to strike the mother; she had named her daughter for him, and then had the gall to claim that she wasn't his. 

It would be his first life lesson for Obara: if she was going to lie, lie better than her mother.

*

The food at the inn where Oberyn was staying was richer than anything Obara's mother had ever been able to afford. Obara ate herself sick, threw up in the garderobe, and then lied about it; he was quickly learning that she was a child who did not like to show weakness.

"You have a sister at Sunspear," Oberyn told her, sparking a look of naked curiosity in Obara's eyes. "I have a sister myself, it is a very fine thing."

He purchased a piebald pony for Obara to ride back to Sunspear, as well as some hardy but well-stitched riding clothes. The first time he saw his daughter smile was when he presented her with breeches and a shirt in place of a dress.

Obara had never ridden before, but she clung grimly to the saddle and refused to ask for help.

The pony was a stolid creature that didn't react to Obara sawing at its mouth with the reins or knocking its flank with her father's spear, which she hadn't relinquished since she'd picked it up back in her mother's single room.

The spear was twelve feet of steel banded Ash; it dragged in the sand as Obara rode. Obara was a long-legged, coltish child, but unless she grew uncommonly tall for a woman the spear would always be overlong for her.

"When we reach Sunspear I will have a spear cut to your height, and you can begin your training."

Obara's teeth showed in a grin, but she readjusted her grip on her father's spear and slipped sideways in the saddle. 

Oberyn pretended not to see Obara's almost fall. He decided to let her keep his spear too; he had plenty, and it might serve to make up for his not coming for her sooner.

*

Obara was less mercurial and greedy for attention than Nym, but she could be sullen and prone to dark moods.

She was happiest when training with spear and shield. "She has a lot of anger," Sunspear's old master-at-arms told Oberyn, "but I remember how angry you were as a boy. Fury is no bad thing in a warrior, so long as it is tempered with patience."

Oberyn was leaving the nursery after saying goodnight to Nym when he met Doran.

"Your squires have been heard to complain," his brother said lightly, falling into step beside him. "They say that whatever task you set them to, Obara has gotten there first."

"I am obviously not working them hard enough if they can be outdone by a girl of not yet ten," replied Oberyn with not a little pride. But he took his brother's point. His squires were all the sons of important Dornish lords, who Doran could not risk offending.

"Are you thinking of training Obara for knighthood?" Doran asked with a wry smile.

"Some of the finest men I ever killed were not knights," Oberyn replied with a grin. "Any sot can be a knight."

Doran's stride slowed. "Where are you rushing off to?"

"The practice yard. I try to watch the last half hour or so of Obara's lessons with the master-at-arms every day." Doran came to a complete halt with a strange, small smile on his face. "What is it?" Oberyn asked.

"Fatherhood suits you," said Doran. "I only hope it suits me half so well."

"Mellario--?"

"Is with child, yes."

Oberyn seized his brother by the shoulders and kissed him on one cheek and then the other.

 

_iii._

Oberyn wondered if he hadn't been too harsh with Obara's mother, and he coaxed Tyene from her mother's arms with sweet words and reassurances. 

Tyene would be well loved at Sunspear, he promised her. She would be raised alongside her sisters and her cousin, the newborn princess, and given every advantage a prince of Dorne could provide. 

How long did she expect to be able to hide the infant from her superiors at the motherhouse, he asked gently, and what would happen to them both when they were discovered?

"I thought I could say that she was a foundling who'd been given over to the Faith?"

Oberyn clenched his fists. He was not himself a pious man; he would not stop any of his daughters from taking religious vows, but not until they were old enough to do so of their own free will. 

He forced a charming smile onto his face. "We have a sept at Sunspear; the child will know of the Seven, Lemore, I promise you."

Septa Lemore let Oberyn ease the babe from her arms. He was struck by how small she was; he hadn't known either of his older daughters when they were this young. 

Oberyn had become lost in his daughter's eyes; those same viper's eyes, only the blue of winter roses. He only half heard Lemore saying, "--You have to read to her from the _Seven-Pointed Star_ , else she won't sleep." Oberyn nodded offhandedly. "And you'll need a wet nurse."

"My brother's wife has just given him a daughter," he said, "there's already a wet nurse in place at Sunspear."

"To feed Tyene on the journey, Oberyn," Lemore said with a sad, indulgent smile, and Oberyn realised that he had no idea how often an infant might need to be fed. 

He had taught himself how to be a father of daughters, his girls had taught him, and this too he would learn.

* 

Oberyn kept his word and read to Tyene from the _Seven-Pointed Star_. He read her tales of the Old Gods of the North, too, the Drowned God of the Ironborn, and the hundred gods that were worshiped in Braavos, and even of half mythological deities from shadowy Asshai.

When he ran out of tales of gods and monsters he read to her from any book he had close at hand, including Maester Edwyn's _Rare Poisons of the Dornish Sands_ which had mysteriously disappeared from the Citadel's library just when Oberyn had abandoned his studies there.

*

Tyene and Princess Arianne were sleeping peacefully in the same cradle. Both babes had been born with healthy lungs; Arianne in particular had howled all through her presentation to the people of Dorne, something that had done little to diminish the Dornishmen's love of their new princess. But the girls were kindred spirits and usually quiet when they were put down together. 

"The only time you were quiet as a child was when Elia was with you," said Doran, looking down at Arianne's dark head bent towards Tyene's fair one.

"Now that Elia is leaving us you will have to contend with my being loud." Oberyn had meant it as a jest, but his voice was tinged with bitterness. 

"Make it up with her before she leaves," Doran advised, before changing the subject; he'd never been one to get in the middle of quarrels between his siblings. "Lords Uller and Yronwood have sent gifts to celebrate the birth of my heir. Mace Tyrell wrote to congratulate me on the birth of my daughter."

"The man's a fool," said Oberyn.

*

Nym was exhausted after spending the entire day being spoiled by Elia; of all Oberyn's children she was the closest to her aunt. Elia looked worn out by it too.

"Don't go," Oberyn said softly for fear of waking Nym, and because he had no wish to start another fight with Elia so close to her departure. "Don't marry this self-styled silver prince."

"I want to be queen, Oberyn." Elia looked down at the sleeping Nym and added, "And I want one of these. Doran has Arianne and another on the way, you have your girls; why shouldn't I have a child of my own?"

"You should," said Oberyn. He had only ever wanted Elia's happiness; he would have given up his strength to her if he could. "You should have everything you want, but is that even possible...?"

"Do you really think the Targaryens agreed to the marriage contract without having me examined? Their own maesters say that there is every chance I'll be able to give Rhaegar an heir."

"Did these maesters give the chances of you surviving the birth?"

"Oberyn," Elia turned to him and pressed her palm over his heart, "all our lives you're the only one who's never doubted my strength, don't start doubting me now."

 

_iv._

Oberyn took passage from Planky Town to Dragonstone aboard the _Feathered Kiss_ , a trader out of Tall Trees Town. 

He rocked the infant princess Rhaenys in his arms; the babe favoured her mother rather than her washed out excuse for a father, thank the gods. 

Elia herself was sitting up in bed; she looked grey and ill, but alive. "The king refused to acknowledge her," she said bitterly, "he said she smelled Dornish."

Oberyn bowed over the infant's head and inhaled deeply. "Mmm, delicious." 

Elia smiled wanly at that. She plucked nervously at the bedclothes, and said, "Rhaegar says he needs an heir before he can move against his father."

"You've given him an heir," said Oberyn, bouncing Rhaenys in his arms to emphasise his point.

"You know what I mean, Oberyn, he needs a son, and sooner rather than later."

"Elia, you can't stand up!"

"I can put him off until I'm stronger."

Oberyn glowered as best as he was able with a babe in his arms. "I could put him off for a great deal longer than that."

Elia laughed weakly. "Give me the baby, Oberyn, it's past time she was fed." She patted the bed. "You should sit by me and tell me all about you and Lord Uller's natural daughter; even stuck here on Dragonstone I hear stories."

"Ellaria..." Her name rolled off Oberyn's tongue like honey. "We met at the tourney at Hellholt."

"Were you riding in the tilt?"

"I had the girls with me. Obara was beginning to learn the whip, with little success, Nym was sickening for something, and Tyene was having a tantrum at being separated from Arianne; it was as though I were herding cats."

"She likes your girls, then?"

"She calls them the Sand Snakes," Oberyn replied with a grin. 

*

Oberyn stayed on Dragonstone for the better part of a year. Obara was at Sunspear putting yet another crop of squires to shame, Nym was fostered at Skyreach, and Tyene was at the Water Gardens with Arianne.

He only left when he received a message from the _Feathered Kiss_. The captain had birthed a daughter, the child had never thrived, and her mother thought that Oberyn might like to see his newest daughter while she still lived.

Sarella was small even for a babe so young; under her dark skin she had an unhealthy greyish pallor. 

"I want to keep her with me," Oberyn said.

The first mate shrugged. "Give her to the sea when... It's what the captain would want."

During his time at the Citadel Oberyn had focused his energies of forging links of iron and Valyrian steel to show his mastery of warcraft and the higher mysteries, he had not given over much time to the study of medicine. He dredged his memory for anything that might strengthen the child. 

Sarella sickened further on the boat to Oldtown. Elia had found him a wet nurse from Dragonstone, but Sarella was hardly keeping down any of the woman's milk. 

In Oldtown Oberyn called in favours from old friends and tutors; he even found Marwyn dicing with whores and sailors by the harbour in order to seek out remedies that weren't exactly sanctioned by the Citadel. 

Slowly but surely Sarella rallied.

The road back to Sunspear, with a wet nurse, a maester, and a babe that was only improving by increments took many months. But Oberyn did not want to take a ship; Sarella did not seem to thrive at sea.

By the time they arrived in the shadow city, Sarella had become an incurably curiously child who would grab for anything that came close enough and hang on for grim life.

 

_v._

Oberyn and Ellaria had spent many months living in a pleasure house in Lys. In their cabin on the ship back to Dorne Oberyn rubbed scented oil into Ellaria's swollen belly.

"I want to be there for the birth."

Ellaria chuckled. "My love, you are welcome to be there in my stead."

"I mean it. I want to see her come into the world."

"You are very sure she'll be a girl."

"Yes." Oberyn pressed a kiss to Ellaria's belly. "I am."

*

The atmosphere at Planky Town was tense; the last time Oberyn had seen the people this agitated was just after his mother's death. 

He had written to Doran from Lys to say that he was returning; he hadn't received a reply, and suddenly he worried that something had befallen his brother.

He and Ellaria swiftly found themselves surrounded by men in the livery of the Martells. "Prince Oberyn," their leader said urgently, "Prince Doran requires you in Sunspear with all haste."

Oberyn wondered what could have moved Doran to send for him in this fashion. He seized the man by the breastplate and dragged him forward. "The children--?"

The man was armoured, and Oberyn was not, but it was the armsman who looked as though he wanted the ground to split open and swallow him. 

"It's-- it's your sister, my prince."

"Elia?"

Oberyn looked between the armsmen and Ellaria with her swollen belly. "Go," she said, "I'll go to my father's seat."

"You four," commanded Oberyn, "see that she reaches Hellholt safely. The rest of you, we ride for Sunspear."

*

Oberyn was chained in Sunspear's dungeons at his own brother's command. 

His cell door was opened, and Doran appeared, leaning heavily on a cane. Like their mother before them, Doran looked older than his years. 

"Why didn't you write?" Oberyn's voice was cracked from his futile raging. "I would have come at once, nothing would have stood in my way."

"The Mad King was holding Elia and her children hostage, I feared your recklessness would condemn them"

"My recklessness might have saved them!" Doran nodded at a guard, who came forward and unlocked Oberyn chains. "Aren't you worried I'll keep trying to raise Dorne for war?" he asked bitterly.

"Word has come from Hellholt that Ellaria Sand has been taken to the birthing bed. Go, see your newest child come into the world; after that if you still want to set Dorne alight..." Doran shrugged wearily. "So be it."

*

Oberyn missed the girl's birth by a matter of hours.

"You can attend the next birth," said Ellaria.

"The next one?" Oberyn was still having trouble comprehending a future that did not have his sister in it.

"And the one after that. Oberyn... I haven't named the girl. I thought you might like to."

Oberyn frowned. "All my other girls were named by their mothers."

"I know."

Oberyn looked down at the child in his arms and felt a rush of grief and rage and fierce protectiveness. "Elia."

*

Oberyn woke in the nursery with Elia's namesake asleep on his chest. He had woken in the night from a nightmare where a monstrous knight dashed the babe's head against a wall and rushed to the nursery still half asleep.

Ellaria shook him awake at dawn, and lifted the babe into her arms. Elia was the first daughter of Oberyn's who he would willingly hand back to her mother, he realised.

"Your brother has sent you a gift." Ellaria directed him out onto the balcony. In the courtyard below were Oberyn's older children; Doran must have sent for them from all over Dorne. 

Obara, who was all but a woman grown, armed with whip and a shield; Nym, the closest of the girls to her aunt, with shining black eyes; Tyene in novice's robes, even though Arianne had talked her out of taking septa's vows for the moment; Sarella jumping up and down and shouting, "Father! Father!"

"Come up," he called down to them. "Come meet your sister, Elia."

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Her Father's Daughter (Visited on the Son Remix)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/7311394) by [originally](https://archiveofourown.org/users/originally/pseuds/originally)




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